Nelson Mandela miniseries in pipeline

Nelson Mandela's life story is to be turned into a six-part television miniseries co-created by his grandson, the producers behind the multinational project have confirmed.

Entitled Madiba - Mandela's clan name - the series "will take a broad view of the inner passions and outside forces that guided him," the producers said in a statement.

The producers will announce who will play the democracy icon once casting finishes in the next few weeks, said Lance Samuels, whose South African production house Out of Africa will co-produce the series with Kweku Mandela.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation says it supports the undertaking and is helping with research.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winner was imprisoned for 27 years for his fight against white oppression in South Africa.

He was freed in 1990 and elected president four years later.

Kweku Mandela says the miniseries will seek to portray "Mandela the man" instead of "Mandela the saint".

Out of Africa, Canada's Blue Ice Films and Britain's Left Bank Pictures will film mainly on-site in South Africa.

"We will start filming in August and plan to release by 2013," Samuels told AFP.

"We are just pretty much putting the script together and casting."

Emmy and BAFTA-winning writer Nigel Williams, acclaimed for the miniseries Elizabeth I with Helen Mirren in the title role, is penning the six one-hour television episodes.

Main characters will be cast from London and Los Angeles, while South African actors will make up the supporting cast, Samuels added.